I wish I had paid more attention in my Economic lessons because then I might have some understanding on what this ‘credit crunch’ thing is all about. In a nutshell I believe the problem was that Banks around the world (mainly in the US) lent money to people who had no way of paying it back. The Banks then got into trouble and Joe Public bailed them out. Now they wont lend to anyone.
Governments around the World are now trying to kick start economies that are in recession. But, and this is the big but, how can these morons in Whitehall or in the Bank if England possibly have any idea of what hardship is, how can they possibly come up with a plan to get ordinary people spending again. Of course! drop VAT by 2.5% – great – that new plasma TV I wanted has come down to £750 – I’ll get two! Did the Chancelor really think that would help? The sad answer to that is ‘yes he did’ which shows what a complete brainless moron he is. I would like to point out at this stage that I hold Alastair Darling in much higher regard than George Osborne and Vince Cable.
Tell me if I am being over simplistic and an idiot but the people who get an economy out of a recession is the consumer (you and me). So surely the only way out of this is to make sure we have more money. Drop interest rates – good idea, but bloody useless if the Banks (which we now own) don’t pass on the savings. We used to have a mortgage rate of 1-1.5% over base rate. Two years ago with inflation and interest rates going up, myself and Mrs Moose fixed our mortgage at a good rate of 6.5%, we thought we were being prudent.
So if Brown and Darling want to help the consumer they need to follow the Moose Plan, as follows:

  • Get the banks (we own) to pass on the interest rates to us with no penalties. (Don’t ask – Order them!)
  • Wholesale gas is now down to 2006 levels – force the utility companies to pass on these savings.
  • Freeze Council Tax – It can’t go up in line with inflation (there is none) as is the excuse each year.
  • The last time a barrel of oil was this cheap (comparatively) unleaded fuel was under 75p a litre. Someone, somewhere is profiteering.
  • Sort out credit card and overdraft interest rates – I am paying more on these now than I was last year. How can this be allowed to happen?
  • Hold up the people that got us in this mess to public ridicule. Bring back the stocks!

This would give the average household anywhere from £150 – £500 per month extra to spend at struggling businesses. Struggling businesses would then have money to spend with other businesses. We might even put some of the extra money in the bank – you never know.
It all starts with the consumer and doing it this way would cost the Government time but very little money.
I now this is very simplistic but what else do you need to do?